NY Times: Harvesting Poverty: The Farmland Bubble

[La_Serpiente]

Farm Subsidies have been debated over by many sides. Poor farmers in Africa say that America's farm subsidies are hurting their cotton crops. Large economy agricorporations have the lobbyists to ensure that they receive the annual subsidies from the US government. Farming is a way of life for those that that own small family farms. It is an image that some of us may have read about in American literature. Meanwhile, they have to put up with Monsato and other agribusinesses.

If Democrats could help these small farmers, we could open up new inroads into rural America instead of just sticking to the urban areas.

Have any of your candidates come up with a rural policy?

I am trying to understand this issue. If anyone has any other insight on this topic, please share it. Thanks :-)

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HARVESTING POVERTY
The Farmland Bubble

The family farm. Few institutions are more central — iconic, even — to America's self-image. The words themselves conjure up Norman Rockwell and a shared national heritage that extols self-reliance and the conquest of the frontier.

Politics tends to exploit easily romanticized icons, and the family farm has not been spared. It has been used by special interests to justify policies that cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars for subsidies that do little to aid real small farmers. It has been hijacked as an excuse to betray America's free-market values and hurt developing countries.

Poor cotton farmers in places as remote as Burkina Faso know much more about our agricultural policies than most Americans do, and they express confusion about the United States government's stated commitment to small farmers. In reality, the farms that benefit most are on an industrial scale. American small farmers are victims of federal agricultural policies, just like the African cotton growers, who cannot compete against the American product. American cotton — thanks to subsidies — often sells for less than it costs to grow.

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HARVESTING POVERTY: The Farmland Bubble

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[bobbieinok]

1. check out Sen Tom Harkin from IA

I learned a lot about the realities and the politics of agriculture while living 20+ years in IA.

[Landlord]

2. This is true

I cash rent a small portion of my land to a family farmer. This family owns several thousand acres-IIRC. The father has stated that unless you go big you will not make it in agriculture. He has stated that only 1/2 of his crop is for the U.S., the rest is shipped abroad.
He is also sadden that Europe, for entirely asinine reasons, are against GM(genetically modified) foods. GM foods use less chemicals that non-GM foods for the same or better harvests.
His son has stated that the federal government often changes agricultural policy, and farmers just go with the flow. I would personally like to see all subsidies cancelled, but what I like and what occurs are two different things.